A spokesperson for Maryland's governor said Tuesday that 100% of the state's residents who died of Covid-19 last month were not vaccinated, a figure seen as the latest testament to the effectiveness of the shots in preventing fatal illness and further evidence of the need to ensure widespread distribution.
"It's really sad and tragic that most all of these are avoidable and preventable."
--Dr. Anthony Fauci
Michael Ricci, communications director for Maryland's Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, also noted that 95% of new Covid-19 cases in the state last month and 93% of the coronavirus-related hospitalizations occurred in unvaccinated people.
"Vaccines work," Kevin Kinnally, legislative director at the nonprofit Maryland Association of Counties, tweeted in response to the new data.
Nearly 70% of Maryland residents over the age of 18 have been vaccinated, according to a New York Times database, and the state recorded roughly 130 deaths in June.
With the ultra-contagious Delta variant of Covid-19 spreading rapidly in unvaccinated pockets of the U.S., Maryland Health Secretary Dennis Schrader said last week that the state is working hard to change the minds of people who have refused to get vaccinated or hesitated to make their appointments.
"We're not giving up on any county," said Schrader. "We really believe that we've got a lot more work to do--and we're not going to slow down or stop until we get as many people vaccinated as possible."
The new figures out of Maryland come days after Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that "about 99.2%" of coronavirus deaths across the U.S. in June were among unvaccinated people. The U.S. is currently averaging more than 190 deaths from Covid-19 each day.
"No vaccine is perfect," Fauci said during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "But when you talk about the avoidability of hospitalization and death... it's really sad and tragic that most all of these are avoidable and preventable."
"The common enemy is the virus," Fauci added, "and we have a tool--a highly effective tool--against this virus."
On Tuesday, in an effort to jumpstart stalled vaccination rates across the country, the Biden White House announced a new initiative that will include "targeted, community-by-community, door-to-door outreach to get the remaining Americans vaccinated by ensuring they have the information they need on how both safe and accessible the vaccine is."
